The picture by Grant Thomas won first place among British
photographers in the annual Underwater Photographer of the Year
contest. With more than 5,000 entries, the competition is becoming
one of the most interesting photo contests in the world.

“I chose Loch Lomond as the location for this shot due to its
idyllic scenery, water access and friendly swans,” said Thomas, who
now lives in New Zealand. “My initial idea was to frame a split
shot of one swan feeding below the surface. But when I noticed how
comfortable they were around me, I was confident, with some
patience, I could get that magical shot of the two.”

Martin Edge, one of three judges in the contest, noted how this
photograph impressed the judges more and more as they looked at it.
The split between water and air forms a perfect curve at the
traditional one-third line, with the scene punctuated by blue sky
and puffy clouds, he said.

“The eyes have just enough base at the bottom of the frame to
look into,” he added. “Like archways, the curved neck of both swans
draws the eye even further into the frame.”

Out of the 5,000 images, 110 were called out for awards and
featured in the
2018 UPY Yearbook (PDF 37.2 mb), which can be downloaded from
the UPY website. A video presenting all the winners can be viewed
at the bottom of this page.

“I do not believe that you will find a better selection of
underwater images anywhere else, either online, in magazines,
books, journals or any other publication I can think of,” said
Edge, who has published several of his own books on underwater
photography. “In my opinion, this particular edition is a universal
experience in superior underwater imagery.

“Since the conception of this competition four years ago, we
have seen a number of groundbreaking techniques, which have
inspired and encouraged other creative photographers to continue to
push the boundaries,” he added.

Speaking of pushing boundaries, the photograph judged to be the
overall best in the contest this year is a composite panoramic
photograph of a shipwreck by German photographer Tobias Friedrich.
One can see amazing details on the cargo deck of the SS
Thistlegorm, a British merchant ship sunk by German aircraft in
World War II. Trucks carrying motorcycles remain as they were
before the ship sank 77 years ago.

The image simply does not work on a small scale, so I’m not
showing it on this page. But you can click and zoom in on the
award-winning photograph titled “Cycle
War.”

The winner in the “Behaviour” category is Filippo Borghi of
Italy, who spent two days in shallow water near Osezaki, Japan, to
get the shot of a cormorant with a sardine in its mouth.

Edge’s note to the photographer: “Filippo, this is one of my top
four images in this year’s competition of UPY. Flawless in every
way. Congratulations!”

A picture of three seahorses together in perfect profile was the
winner in the “Macro” category. Photographer Shane Gross of Canada
placed his off-camera strobe and flashlight on a small tripod
behind the trio and waited for them to turn the right way, as the
sun set and plankton began to rain down.

One of my favorite photos among the winners is a “highly
commended” image in the “Macro” category showing a black-saddle
snake eel with a tiny shrimp on the end of its nose. I’ve been
writing a lot lately about the Puget Sound food web, and I’ve
learned that a key to successful energetics is the size of a
predator compared to its prey. This miraculous photo, taken by
Italian Marchione dott. Giacomo in Indonesia, captures in fine
detail this sense of scale.

From a photo of a tiny shrimp, I’d like to jump to a “highly
commended” shot of a killer whale in the “Wide Angle” category. The
picture was taken near Skjervoya, Norway, by Tobia Friedrich, the
same photographer who revealed the shipwreck Thistlegorm. He
noticed a pod of killer whales circling a net filled with herring
and used a 8-15 mm fisheye lens to provide a mystical feeling.

“This is an image that transports you to a wondrous moment in an
extreme location,” said contest judge Alex Mustard. “Tobi had the
inspiration not only to shoot the orca, but to also tell the bigger
story with the snow-covered mountains surrounding the fjord.”

The winner in the “Portrait” category showed a sand tiger shark
in the midst of a “ball” of bait fish near the wreck of the
Caribsea off North Carolina. U.S. photographer Tanya Houppermans
laid on her back and aimed her camera upward until the fish parted
and she got a clear shot of the shark’s white underbelly.

In another engaging photo by a U.S. photographer, multiple
elements — colorful coral, intense sunset and human silhouettes —
were all put into a single frame by Brook Peterson. The image,
which took third place in “Wide Angle,” was captured in Egypt’s Red
Sea.

“This lovely sunset split shot is enhanced with the other
snorkelers on the pier,” wrote judge Martin Edge. “Most of us would
have avoided them, but Brook had other intentions, which made for a
dynamic different image.”

A whimsical image of an underwater campfire — fire under ice —
came “highly commended” by the judges in the “Wide Angle” category.
Photographer Pekka Tuuri of Finland pulled together a bunch of
props to create this picture. Dry ice was used to create bubbles,
and a piece of orange gel over a dive light provided the proper
color for the “fire.” Pieces of firewood were nailed together, and
the sausage came from a local gas station near Kuortane , Finland,
the site the frozen-over Kaatiala quarry.

One of the photographs surprised me as an optical illusion,
although that was not mentioned in the notes on the photo. When I
first looked at the image called “Battle
of the Tompots” (click to view), I saw two owl-like eyes
staring at me. It looked like the creature had a yellow beak and
whispy feathers over both eyes. But this was actually two fish
biting each other’s lips as part of a mating battle. The photo, by
Henley Spiers, was the winner in the “British Waters Macro”
category.